Beta Story
by LatinStoryteller
Summary: Do not read!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 2: Meetings part 1

**QUICK AUTHOR'S NOTE: Wow, I didn't think i'd get so many favorites and alerts. Well I still need a beta so PM me if you're interested. I need one to help me with detailing... and if possible to write the lemons for later. I forgot, HARRY POTTER IS NOT THE MAIN CHARACTER. He is from my imagination. I kind of mixed the characteristic of Harry, Naruto and Percy in my mind. I also forgot to mention that this story will have a bit of God of War in it. Oh and quick shout to Deamoneta, sorry bro, but I needed that prologue. I cut this chapter short because The Lightning Thief story line will start next chapter.**

The boy quickly woke up. He stood up and started walking. Looking around trying to determine where it is that he was. After looking around he could quickly tell that he was not home. He couldn't remember where he was, much less who he was. The boy started to wander, walking towards a forest. Soon, it became dark yet the boy didn't stop. He heard a growl and he looked around.  
GROWL!

He realized that the sound came from behind and quickly turned around; and there he saw her. A she-wolf, she got closer and started to smell him.  
SNIFF! SNIFF!

She turned around and with her paw she made a 'come here' motion. She wanted him to follow her, she would teach him how to survive.

BREAK!BREAK!BREAK!  
(3 weeks later)  
The boy was running. He crashed into a man, and in the confusion he quickly grabbed the man's wallet. He started to run once again as he obtained the wallet.  
"Fucking Kids," the man said, " They should watch where they're fucking running to. And where in the hell is that boy's mother?"

The boy smiled as he ran away. He had to thank that she-wolf as she taught him how he could get food. But the boy didn't know that the sisters of fate were arguing, pointing at one another and blamed each other for the boy's survival.

For three years, the boy suffered. For three long years he had to work hard in plantations, or stole money in order to feed himself. The boy did not know what hardships he would need to overcome in order to keep on living.  
BREAK!BREAK!BREAK!

(3 years later)  
The eight year old boy walked towards a house. He turned the doorknob and went inside. Inside he could smell a strong scent of alcohol and cigarettes. He went to the living room and saw a woman there.

She was dead, he quickly decided. But in the deceased woman's hand he found a letter.

Dear -,  
His name is Luke Castellan. Please take care of him, go to New York and look for Camp Half-Blood.  
Sincerely, May Castellan.

He went upstairs and found a five year old boy sleeping. He quickly grabbed Luke and jumped from the window. Never to be seen around there again.

From Connecticut the boy walked towards Virginia. After all, he didn't know where New York was, much less where the so called Camp Half-Blood existed.

In Virginia he found two girls in the same situation he was, lost. The older girl who looked to be around seven, had black long luscious hair and a semi-torn t-shirt. The younger girl was a blonde, her hair in a ponytail, she looked like she was five.

The boy threw a small rock towards the older girl, hoping to catch her attention.

"OW!" she cried, "What was that?"  
She turned around and quickly saw the boy. She saw he was holding a five-year old on his back. Much like she was.

" Who are you?" She asked.

"We are like you, we're looking for a place to call home," Luke responded.

"Really?"

"Really.

The boy looked at them and grabbed a stick. On the ground he wrote

CAMP HALF-BLOOD, NEW YORK

"So we're supposed to go all the way to New York?" The older girl asked.

"I guess so," replied Luke.

"Well if we're going together then i better introduce ourselves," the girl said, "I'm Thalia, and this," she pointed to the blonde behind her, " is Annabeth."

"I'm Luke, and this is..." Luke started, "I actually don't know his name."  
BREAK! BREAK! BREAK!

The group of four quickly ran towards New York, but they quickly encountered trouble on the outskirts of Virginia... Luke was missing.

"Where is he?" Asked Thalia.

The boy gave a shrug as a response, he looked into her eyes. As she looked back into his emerald green eyes she understood what he was trying to say  
calm down, I'm gonna look for him

She nodded. And she quickly turned back to what she was eating, canned tuna.  
'I wonder who he truly is,' she though, ' I wanna know how he managed to obtain food for all of us.'

She looked up, to find that the boy was gone. She left the temporary haven that they were in order to look for the boys.

The boy quickly found Luke, he was in a barn, it looked like Luke went into the farmer's home and stole something to eat.  
He put his hand on Luke's shoulder and motioned a 'go home'.

But it was too late.

The farmer noticed that he was missing food and found crumbs of bread trailing towards his barn.

The farmer looked inside and saw two boys, he pulled out his pistol from a near by stack of hay. Silently he cocked the gun.

He said, "Wha'cha boys doin'." And he pulled out the pistol. "Heck, wha'cha boys stealing."

The boys saw the gun and Luke freaked out... In other words he passed out of shock.

The boy acted out of reflex and grabbed the gun. The farmer and the boy wrestled for the gun. The farmer's greasy, meaty hands versus the boy's small, skinny hands. The biy somehow overpowered the farmer's and he pulled the gun from his grasp.

With the gun in his hands the boy circled the farmer, slowly moving towards the barn's door.

Yet the farmer wouldn't give up. He pulled another gun out of nowhere. They looked at each other and BOOM! A gun went.

BOOM!

The farmer fell, his body covered in the life-sustaining liquid. Yet the boy was not unharmed, he too was bleeding; but he managed to walk out.

In the distance Thalia could be seen, her eyes open in shock.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 4:Prophecies, Old Ladies, and Aunties_

"CRAP," whispered Axel to himself, "I didn't actually think he would try..."

"Chiron, what does this mean?" asked Thalia, "I mean, there are two children of the big three.

"This means that my so called '_father'_ is becoming pretty desperate at finding Zeus' master bolt," answered Axel, "and he wants _me_ to find it as a peace offering. He does not want to fight a war."

"You are correct child," said Chiron, slightly surprised that Axel came to that conclusion so quickly.

"Then it's safe for me to assume and say that a quest is needed," said Axel, "we should at least make it official."

"You are right once again child, let us go see the oracle and get a prophecy," said Chiron.

The whole camp followed them to the White House. Every demi-god and every satyr tried to get in through the doors.

"Well, since everyone was to see me get a prophecy why don't we just let the oracle come down?" asked Axel, slightly mad at the nosiness of the other campers.

"No, child, you see, the oracle cannot come down," said Chiron, also slightly mad at the campers.

"Wh-" tried to ask Axel but suddenly something was coming down the stairs from the Attic.

It was a mummy. Not the wrapped-in-cloth kind, but a human female body shriveled to a husk. She wore a tie-dyed sundress, lots of beaded necklaces, and a headband over long black hair. The skin of her face was thin and leathery over her skull, and her eyes were glassy white slits, as if the real eyes had been replaced by marbles; she'd been dead a long, long time. Looking at her would send chills down anybody's back. A green mist poured from the mummy's mouth, coiling over the floor in thick tendrils, hissing like twenty thousand snakes. Suddenly, the mist went to Axel and went inside the boy.

Everyone was shocked, well, everybody but Thalia, she was getting used to the daily weird occurences that seem to involve her friend.

"_I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask," _said Axel, in a thousand different voices.

"What is the prophecy," asked Chiron.

"_You shall go west, and face the god who has turned. _

_You shall find what was stolen, and see if safely returned._

_But, you shall fail what matters most to you, in the end," _said Axel.

Suddenly the green mist left the boy and the oracle disappeared.

"OW, What happened?" asked Axel, a little confused by the stares he was getting.

"You just said a prophecy," said Thalia.

"Well, what did it say?" asked Axel.

"You shall go west, and face the god who has turned. You shall find what was stolen and see it safely returned. But, you shall fail what matters most to you in the end," answered Thalia.

"Well, now that we got the prophecy, we must decide who goes in the quest," stated Chiron, "Thalia and Axel must go, seeing as their fathers are deeply involved in all of this."

"I want Annabeth to come with me," said Thalia, hoping her friend would help, just like old times.

"Of course," said Annabeth, "after all, I can't leave you alone with seaweed brain over here."

Axel just pouted at his new nickname.

"Well, how about you Axel? Who do you want to come along?" asked Thalia.

Axel thought about it for a minute, after three long minutes of deep thinking he said, "Chloe."

Everyone was surprised, yet not...they could all tell they had a deep relationship.

Chloe was a bit surprised, "Me?" she asked, "Why?"

"Because you are someone I trust, and come on, think about it. There is one six, seven, and eight year old on a quest to recover a bolt with the power to destroy a mountain. We need someone a bit older to guide us. Plus you are entering what? Sixth grade? We need someone who knows how the world works," said Axel.

Thalia did not know why she was feeling so jealous when Axel said he trusted Chloe, but she was.

"Well, the summer solstice is in about ten days, so you must go west and find whomever turned," said Chiron.

"Yeah, and where exactly?" asked Axel.

"The only god who has to stay in the west is Hades, so he must be the one who stoll the bolt." said Chiron.

"And he lives where..?" asked Axel.

"In Los Angeles," said Chiron, surprised that Axel did not know already, "there is no time to waste, I think you should all get packing."

It didn't take long for anybody to pack. They all took the necesities: clothes, and a toothbrush. The camp loaned them one hundred dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas. Those coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State building on the other.

"The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver," Chiron told the quest takers, "but the Olympians never used less than pure gold. The coins might come in handy for non-mortal transactions."

He gave each member of the group a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies, if they were seriously hurt.

"It is god food," Chiron reminded them, "It will cure you of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half-blood very, very feverish. An overdose will burn you up, literally."

Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankess cap, which she told Axel that had been a sixthbirthday present from her mom. She carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored, and a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve. Thalia carried a sword, a gift from her father at her claiming, the sword would turn itself into a lightning bolt if Thalia wished it. Chloe, like Annabeth, carried a knife. She did not carry anything else seeing as how she had to manage the money and the clothes. Axel was a completely differnet story, he only had a pen, given to him by Chiron. Told to uncap it if there was danger.

"It will only hurt monsters," he said, "It was something your father wanted to give you."

"What is it called?" asked Axel.

"Its name is Anaklusmos," answered Chiron.

"Riptide," Axel translated.

The group waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, then hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that showed the camp's borders.

Chiron waited for them in his magic wheelchair. Next to him stood a surfer dude, according to Chloe the guy was the camp's head of security. He supposedly had eyes all over his body so he could never be surprised. Today, though, he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, so they could only see extra peepers on his hands, face and neck.

"This is Argus," Chiron said, "He will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things...Relax Axel, keep a clear head and remember, you may be about to prevent the biggest war in human history."

"Relax," Axel said, "I'm very relaxed."

When they reached the bottom of the hill, they looked back. Under the pine tree was Chiron, standing in full horse-man form, holding his bow high in salute. Just you typical summer-camp send-off by your typical centaur.

Argus drove them out of the countryside and into western Long Island. It felt weird to be on a highway again. They sat next to each other, as if they were normal carpoolers. Axel found himself staring at every McDonald's, every kid in the back of his parents' car, every billboard and shopping mall.

"So far so good," Axel said, "Ten miles and not a single monster."

Annabeth gave him an irritated look and said, "It's bad luck to talk that way, seaweed brain."

"Remind me again-why do you hate me so much?"

"I don't hate you."

"Could have fooled me."

She folded her cap of invisibility. "Look... we're just not supposed to get along, okay? Our parents are rivals."

"Why?"

She sighed, "How many reasons do you want? One time my mom caught Poseidon with his girlfriend in Athena's temple, which is hugely disprespectful. Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be the patron god for the city of Athens. You dad created some stupid saltwater spring for his gift. My mom created the olive tree. The people saw that her gift was better, so they named the city after her."

"They must really like olives," said Thalia, wondering how this conversation started.

"Oh, forget it."

"Now, if she invented cheeseburgers- _that_ I could understand."

"I said forget it."

Traffic slowed the group down in Queens. By the time they got into Manhattan it was sunset and startting to rain. Argus dropped them at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side. Argus unloaded their bags, made sure they got their bus tickets, and then drove away, the eye on the back of his hand opening to watch them as he pulled out of the parking lot.

The rain kept coming down.

The group got restless waiting for the bus and decided to play some Hacky Sack with an apple that was part of Chloe's enormous food supply. Suddenly, Axel thought he smelled some kind of weird smell, and the game ended.

"What is it?" asked Chloe.

"Nothing," said Axel.

They were relieved when they finally got on board and found seats together in the back of the bus. They stowed their backpacks. Annabeth kept slapping her Yankees cap nerveously against her thigh. As the last passenger got on, Annabeth clamped her hand on Axel's knee.

Axel looked up and saw that an old lady had just boarded the bus. She wore a cumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. The group scrunched down into their seats.

Behind her came two more old ladies: one in a green hat, one in a purple hat. Otherwise they looked exactly like the first one- same gnarled hands, paisley handbags, wrinkled velvet dresses. Triplet demon old ladies. They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two on the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway, making an X. It was casual enough, but it send a clear message to the group: nobody leaves. The bus pulled out of the station and it headed through the slick streets of Manhattan.

"It looks like they're the furries," said Chloe, "_Di immortales_."

"It's okay," said Axel, obviously thinking hard, "The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. We'll just slip out of the windows."

"They don't open," Thalia moaned.

"A back exit?" he suggested.

There was none. Even if there had been, it woul not have helped. By that time they were on Ninth Avenue, heading for the Lincoln Tunnel.

"They won't attack us with witnesses around," Axel said, "will they?"

"Mortals don't have good eyes," Chloe told him, "their brains can only process what they see through the Mist."

"They'll see three old ladies kiling us, won't they?"

She thought about it, "Hard to say, but we can't count on mortals for help. Maybe an emergency exit in the roof...?"

They quickly hit the Lincoln Tunnel, and the bus went dark except for the running lights down the aisle. It was eerily quiet without the sound of the rain.

One of the old ladies said, " I need to use the rest-room."

"So do I," said the second and third sisters in unison. They all started coming down the aisle.

"I've got it," said Chloe, "Axel, take Annabeth's hat."

"What?"

"You're the one they want, turn invisible and go up the aisley. Let them pass you, maybe you can get to the front and get away."

"But you guys-"

"There is an outside chance they might not notice us," Chloe said, " You're the son of Poseidon, they want you. Thalia will hide our smell."

"I can't just leave you."

"Don't worry about us," Annabeth said, "Go!"

Axel took Annabeth's cap and put it on. He looked down and saw that his body wasn't there anymore. He started to creep up the aisley, he managed to get up ten rows, then duck into an empty seat just as the Furies walked past. He made it into the front of the bus, they were almost through the Lincoln Tunnel now. He was about to press the emergency stop button when he heard a hideous wailing from the back row. The old ladies were not old ladies anymore. Their faces were still the same, but their bodies had shriveled into leathery brown hag bodies with bat's wings and hands and feet like gargoule claws. Their handbags turned into fiery whips. The Furies surrounded Thalia, Chloe, and Annabeth, lashing their whips and hissing: "Where is he? WHERE?"

The other people on the bus were screaming, cowering in their seats. They saw _some_thing_, all right_.

"He's not here!" Chloe yelled, "he's gone!"

The Furies raised their whips.

Chloe drew her bronze knife. What Axel did next was so impulsive and dangerous that he should have been named ADHD poster child fo the year.

The bus driver was distracted, trying to see what was going on in his rearview mirror. Still invisible, Axel grabbed the wheel from him and jerked it to the left. Everybody howled as they were thrown to the right, and Axel heard what he hoped was the sound of the three Furies smashing against the windows.

"HEY!" the driver yelled. "Hey-Whoa!"

The two wrestled for the wheel, the bus slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal, and throwing sparks a mile behind them. They careened out of the Lincol Tunnel and back into the rainstorm, people and monsters tossed around the bus, cars plowed aside like bowling pins. Somehow the driver found an exit. They shot off the highway, through half a dozen traffic lights, and ended up barreling down one of those New Jersey rural roads where you can't believe there's so much nothing right across the river from New York. There were woods to their left, the Hudson River to their right, and the driver seemed to be veering toward the river. Another great idea: Axel hit the emergency break.

The bus wailed, spun a full circle on the wet asphalt, and crashed into the trees. The emergency lights came on, the door flew open. The bus driver was the first one out, the passengers yelled as they stampeded after him. Axel steeped into the driver's seat and let them pass. The Furies regained their balance. They lashed their whips at Chloe while she waved her knife and yelled in Ancient Greek, telling them to back off. Axel was free to go, but he simply could not leave his friends. He took off the invisibility cap. "HEY!"

The Furies turned, baring their yellow fangs at him, and the exit suddenly seeemed like an excellent idea. One of them stalked up the aisley, every time she flicked her whip, red flames danced along the barbed leather. Her two ugly sistsers hopped on top of the seats on either side of her and crawled towards Axel like huge nasty lizards.

"Axel Riva," one of them said, in an accent that was definitely from somewhere farther south than Georgia. "You have offended the gods. YOU SHALL DIE!"

"Shut up" he told her.

She growled.

Thalia, Chloe and Annabeth moved up behidn the Furies cautiously, looking for an opening. Axel took the ballpoint pen out of his pocket and uncapped it. Riptide elongated into a shimmering double-edged sword.

The Furies hesitated.

"Submit now," they hissed, "and you will not suffer eternal torment."

"Nice try," Axel told them.

"Axel, look out!" Chloe cried.

One of the Furies lashed her whip around Axel's sword hand while the Furies on either side of lunged at him.

Axel's hand felt like it was wrapped in molted lead, but he managed not to drop Riptide. He stuck the Fury on the left with its hilt, sending her toppling backwards into a seat. He turned and sliced the Fury on the right. As soon as the blade connected with her neck, she screamed and exploded into dust. Chloe got the remaining Furry in a wrestler's hold, and yanked her backwards while Thalia ripped the whip out of her hands.

"OW!" she cried, "OW! HOT! HOT!"

The Fury that Axel had hilt-slammed came back at him again, talons ready, but he swung Riptide and she broke open like a piñata. One of the Furries was trying to get Chloe off her back. She kicked, clawed, hissed, and bit, but Chloe held on while Thalia got the Furry's legs tied up in her own whip. Finally they both shaved her backwards into the aisle. She tried to get up, but didn't have room to flap her bat wings, so she kept falling down.

"Zeus will destroy you!" she promised. "Hades will have your soul!"

"_Braccas Meas Vescimini_," said Axel. (Eat my shorts)

Thunder shook the bus.

"GET OUT!" Axel yelled, "NOW!" They rushed outside and found the other passengers wandering around in a daze, arguing with the driver, or running around in circles yelling, "We're going to die!" A Hawaiian-shirted tourists with a camera snapped Axel's photograph before he could recap his sword.

"Our bags!" Thalia realized, "We left our-"

_**BOOOOOM!**_

The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof, but an angry wail from the inside told the demi-gods that one of the Furries was still alive.

"RUN!" Thalia said, "She's calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!"

They plunged into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind them, and nothing but darkness ahead.

"In a way, it's nice to know there are Greek gods out there, because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong. For instance, when you're walking away from a bus that's just been attacked by monster hags and blown up by lightning, and it's raining on top of everything else, most people might think that's just really bad luck; when you're a half-blood, you understand that some divine force really is trying to mess up your day," said Axel.

Axel got no verbal response to his comment. Chloe just looked at him amused, and Thalia laughed. Annabeth just looked at him.

"How can you be so calm at a time like this?" she asked.

"Like what?"

"All our money was back there," she reminded him. "Our food, and clothes. Everything."

"No it's not," Axel said, showing the hundred dollars and the golden dranchmas.

"HOW?" asked Chloe.

"I stole it from you when we first got on the bus," said Axel.

"How?"

"It wasn't hard."

The group remained silent after that. They sloshed across some mushy ground , through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry. After a few minutes the thunderstorm had finally let up. The city glow faded behind them, leaving them in almost total darkness. Instantly, Axel slammed into a tree and got a nice-sized know on his head.

"Add to the list of superpowers I did not have: infrared vision," said Axel, that comment got him a few laughs.

After tripping and cursing and generally feeling miserably for another mile or so, they started to see light up again: the colors of a neon sign, Chloe could smell food. Fried, greasy, excellent food. She realized she hadn't eaten anything unhealthy since she'd arrive back at Half-blood Hill, where they lived on grapes, bread, cheese, and extra-lean-cut nymph-prepared barbecue. She needed a cheeseburger.

They kept walking until they saw a deserted two-lane road through the trees. On the other side was a closed-down gas station, a tattered billboard for a 1990s movie, and one open business, which was the source of the neon light and the good smell.

It wasn't a fast food restaurant like Chloe hoped. It was one of those weird roadside curio shops that sell lawn flamingos and wooden Indians and cement grizzly bears and stuff like that. The main building was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by acres of statuary. The neon sign above the gate was impossible for the "normal" demigods since it was red cursive neon English.

To the "normal" demigods the sign read: _ATNYU MES GDERAN GOMEN MEPROUIM_

"What the heck does that say?" asked Thalia.

"I don't know," Annabeth said.

Axel translated: "Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium."

They didn't even question how he knew.

Flanking the entrance, as advertised, were two cement garden gnomes, ugly bearded little runts, smiling and waving, as if they were about to get their picture taken. Thalia crossed the street, following the smell of cheeseburgers.

"HEY..." Axel warned.

"The lights are on inside," Chloe said, "maybe it's open."

"Snack bar," Thalia said wistfully.

"Snack bar," Chloe agreed.

"Are you two crazy?" Axel said, but his plea fell on deaf ears.

The front lot was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the pipes.

"Don't knock, I think this is a trap," Axel pleaded.

"All I smell are burgers. Aren't you hungry?" Chloe asked.

Then the door creaked open, and standing in front of them was a tall Middel Eastern woman-at least Axel thought she was Middle Eastern, because she wore a long black gown that covered everything but her hands, and her head was completely veiled. Her eyes glinted behind a curtain of black gauze, but that was all they could make out. Her coffee-colored hands looked old, but well-manicured and elegant, so Chloe imagined she was a grandmother who had once been a beautiful lady.

Her accent sounded vaguely Middle Eastern, too. She said, "Children, it is too late to be out all alone, where are your parents?"

"They're...um..." Annabeth managed to say.

"We're orphands," Axel lied.

"Orphans?" the woman said. The word sounded alien in her mouth, "but my dears! Surely not!"

"We got separated from our caravan," Chloe said," Our circus caravan. The ringmaster told us to meet him at the gas station if we got lost, but he may have forgotten, or maybe he meant a different gas station. Anyways, we're lost. Is that food that I smell?"

"Oh, my dears," the woman said. "You must come on in, poor children. I am Aunty Em. Go straight throught to the back of the warehouse, please. There is a dining area." They thanked her and went inside.

Axel muttered to Chloe, "Circus caravan, really? My lie lead you to say we're freaks?"

"Well, you are a freak so..."

"...I cut myself at night because of you."

"DON'T JOKE ABOUT THAT"

"Yeah well, that's what you get."

The warehouse was filled with more statues-people in all different poses, wearing all different outfits and with different expresssions on their faces. Chloe was thinking that you'd have to have a pretty huge garden to fit even one of these statues, because they were all life-sized. But mostly, she was thinking about food.

Go ahead and call them idiots for walking into a strange woman's shop like that just because they were hungry, but as demigods they do impulsive stuff somewhat. Plus, you've never smelled Aunty Em's burgers. The aroma was like laughing gas in the dentist's chair- it made everyhting else go away. They never notived the way the statues' eyes seemed to follow them, or the fact that Aunty Em had locked the door behind them.

All Chloe cared about was finding the dining area. And sure enough, there it was at the back of the warehouse, a fast-food counter with a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater, and a nacho cheese dispenser. Everything you could want, plus a few steel picnic tables out front.

"Please,sit down," Aunty Em said.

"Awesome," Thalia said.

"Um," Axel said reluctantly, "we don't have any money, ma'am." Before Annabeth could jab him in the ribs, Aunty Em said, " No, no, children. No money. This is a special case, yes? It is my treat, for such nice orphans."

"Thank you, ma'am," Annabeth said.

Aunty Em stiffed, as if Annabeth had done something wrong, but then the old woman relaxed just as quickly.

"Quite all right, Annabeth," she said. "You have such beautiful gray eyes, child."

At that moment Axel realized something was wrong. They didn't introduce themselves yet she knew their names. He stayed quite but kept an eye on her.

Their hostess disapeared behind the snack counter and started cooking. Before they knew it, she'd brought them plastic trays heaped with double cheeseburgers, vanilla shakes, and an extra-extra large servings of French fries.

Thalia was halfway through her burger before she remembered to breath.

Annabetg slurped her shake.

Chloe was picking at the fries.

"What's that hissing noise?" Axel asked.

"Hissing?" Aunty Em asked. "Perhaps you hear the deep-fryer oil. You have keen ears, Axel."

"Thank you, I eat food that helps my senses." **(A/N: Carrots help the eyes, so imagine food like that)**

"That's admirable," she said. "But please, relax."

Aunty Em ate nothing. She hadn't taken off her headdress, even to cook, and now she sat forward and interlaced her fingers and watched the demigods eat. It was a little unsettling, having someone stare at you while you couln't see their face. But the group was satisfied after the burgers, and a little sleepy. Chloe figured the least she could do was to try to make small talk to their hostess.

"So, you sell gnomes," Chloe said, trying to sound interested.

"Oh, yes," Aunty Em said. "And animals. And people. Anything for the garden. Custom orders.

Statuary is very popular, you know."

"A lot of business on this road?"

"Not so much, no. Since the highway was built... most cars, they do not go this way now. I must

cherish every customer I get."

Axel turned his head and saw a statue of a young girl holding an Easter basket. The detail was incredible, much better than you see in most

garden statues. But something was wrong with her face. It looked as if she were startled, or even

terrified.

"Ah," Aunty Em said sadly. "You notice some of my creations do not turn out well. They are

marred. They do not sell. The face is the hardest to get right. Always the face."

"You make this statues yourself?" Chloe asked.

"Oh, yes. Once upon a time, I had two sisters to help me in the business, but they have passed on,

and Aunty Em is alone. I have only my statues. This is why I make them, you see. They are my

company." The sadness in her voice sounded so deep and so real that Chloe couldn't help feeling sorry

for her.

Axel stopped eating. He sat forward and said, "two sisters?"

"It's a terrible story," Aunty Em said. "Not one for children, really. You see, Axel, a bad

woman was jealous of me, long ago, when I was young. I had a... a boyfriend, you know, and

this bad woman was determined to break us apart. She caused a terrible accident. My sisters

stayed by me. They shared my bad fortune as long as they could, but eventually they passed on.

They faded away. I alone have survived, but at a price. Such a price."

Chloe wasn't sure what she meant, but she felt bad for her. Chloe's eyelids kept getting heavier, her full stomach making her sleepy. Poor old lady. Who would want to hurt somebody so nice?

"Chloe?" Axel was shaking her to get a response. "Maybe we should go. I mean, the

ringmaster will be waiting."

He sounded tense. She wasn't sure why.

"Such beautiful gray eyes," Aunty Em told Annabeth again. "My, yes, it has been a long time

since I've seen gray eyes like those."

She reached out as if to stroke Annabeth's cheek, but Axel stood up abruptly.

"We should really go."

"Please dears," Aunty Em pleaded. " I so rarely get to be with children. Before you go, won't you at least sit for a pose?"

"A pose?" Axel asked warily.

"A photograph. I will use it to model a new statue set. Children are so popular, you see.

Everyone loves children."

Axel shifted his weight from foot to food. "I don't think we can, ma'am. Come on, Chloe-"

"Sure we can," said Thalia. The group was irritated with Axel for being so bossy, so rude to an old lady who had just fed them for free. "It's just a photo, Axel. What's the harm?"

"Yes, Axel," the woman purred. "No harm."

The group could tell that Axel didn't like it, but he allowed Aunty Em to lead them back out the front door, into the garden of statues.

Aunty Em directed them to a park bench next to the stone satyr. "Now," she said, "I'll just position you correctly. Annabeth in the middle, Chloe, behind Annabeth and you two," pointing at Axel and Thalia, "on either side of them."

"Not much light for a photo," Chloe remarked.

"Oh, enough," Aunty Em said. "Enough for us to see each other, yes?"

"Where's your camera?" Axel asked.

Aunty Em stepped back, as if to admire the shot. "Now, the face is the most difficult. Can you

smile for me please, everyone? A large smile?"

Axel glanced at the cement satyr next to him and mumbled," That sure does look very real, _almost_ as if he was _turned to stone."_

"Axel," Aunty Em chastised, "look this way, dear." She still had no camera in her hands.

"Chloe-" Axel said.

Some instinct warned Chloe to listen to Axel, but she was fighting the sleepy feeling, the comfortable lull that came from the food of the old lady's voice.

"I will just be a moment," Aunty Em said. "You know, I can't see you very well in this cursed

veil..."

"Chloe, Thalia, something's wrong," Axel insisted.

"Wrong?" Aunty Em said, reaching up to undo the wrap around her head. "Not at all, dear. I have

such noble company tonight. What could be wrong?"

"Look away from her!" Axel shouted. He grabbed Annabeth's hat and made the girl put it on, then he pushed the remaining two to the ground and duck under a picnic table himself.

Then Thalia heard a strange, rasping sound above her. Her eyes rose to Aunty Em's hands, which had turned gnarled and warty, with sharp bronze talons for fingernails. She almost looked higher, but somewhere to her left Axel screamed, "No! Don't!" More rasping- the sound of tiny snakes above her...from where Aunty Em's head would be.

"RUN!" Axel yelled.

Neither of the girls could move. They stared at Aunty Em's gnarled claws, and tried to fight the groggy trance the old woman had put them in.

"Such a pity to destroy such beautiful young faces," Aunty Em said soothingly. "Stay with me girls, all you have to do is look up."

They fought the urge to obey. Instead they looked to one side and saw one of those glass spheres people put in gardens- a gazing ball. They could see Aunty Em's dark reflection in the orange glass; her headdress was gone, revealing her face as a shimmering pale circle. Her hair was moving, writhing like serpants. The snaked hissed.

Axel was shocked, he could understand the snakes. They said, "look up, look up my preysssssss."

Axel slammed into Medusa, making her roar in rage and giving the girls a chance to flee.

"Come on, child," Medusa said, "you are just as handsome as your father. Stay with me."

Axel looked up, into the reptilian eyes of the woman.

Chloe, Thalia, and Annabeth were shocked, he was looking straight at Medusa's eyes and he hadn't turned to stone. They saw him take out his sword, grab Medusa by her snake hair and said, "Damn, it's too bad for you that I hate him." And he just swung Riptide into her neck. Making a clean cut.

Very, very carefully he knelt and draped the monster's head in black clothe, then picked it up. It was dripping green juice.

"Are you guys okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," they decided, suddenly, they wanted to throw up everything they had just eaten. "Why didn't...why didn't the head evaporate?" they asked.

"I imagine once you sever it, it becomes a spoil of war," he said, " same as my minotaur horn. But don't unwrap the head, it will still petrify you."

"Why not you?" Annabeth asked.

She got no verbal response, only a shrug from the boy.

Finally he said, "So we have Athena to thank for this monster?"

Annabeth flashed him an irritated look. "Your dad actually. Don't you remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. They decided to meed in my mother's temple. That's why Athena turned her into a monster. Medusa and her two sisters who had helped her get into the temple; they became the three gorgons. That's why Medusa wanted to touch me. She's still sweet on your dad, though."

"OH, okay, so you didn't remember all that when I said that the satyr statue looked like it was turned to stone," Axel shot back. "Well, then, you're useful."

The group remained silent. Axel stared at the thing. One little snake was hanging out of a hole in the plastic. The words printed on the side of the bag said: WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS!

Axel was angry, not just at Annabeth or at her mom, but with all of the gods for this whole quest, for getting them blown off the road and in two major fights the very first day out from camp. At this rate he felt that they would never make it to Los Angeles alive, much less before the summer solstice. He got up, "I'll be back."

"Axel," Thalia called after him. "What are you-" He searched the back of the warehouse until he found Medusa's office. Her account book showed her six most recent sales, all shipments to the Underworld to decorate Hades and Persephone's garden. According to one of the fright bill, the Underworld's billing address was DOA Recording Studios, West Hollywood, California. He folded up the bill and stuffed it in his pocket. In the cash register he found twenty dollars, a few golden drachmas, and some packing slips for the Hermes Overnight Express, each with a little bag attached for coins. He rummaged around the rest of the office until he found the right-sized box.

He went back to the picnic table, packed Medusa's head, and filled out a delivery slip:

_The Gods_

_Mount Olympus_

_600__th__ Floor._

_Empire State Building_

_New York, NY_

_With Best Wishes,_

_AXEL RIVAS_

"They're not going to like that," Chloe warned, "They'll think you're impertinent." He poured some golden drachmas in the pouch. As soon as he closed it, there was a sound like a cash register. The package floated off the table and disappeared with a _pop!_

"I _am_ impertinent," he said.

He looked at the others, daring them to criticize.

They didn't. They seemed resigned to the fact that he had a major talent for ticking off the gods.

"I thought your last name was Riva" Chloe said, noticing the add "s" at the end.

"It is, I just like Rivas better," Axel said.

She didn't even try to explain why he couln't just change his name at a whim.

"Come on," he muttered. "We need a new plan."

**YAY! Finally done with this chapter. The next one just might finish the book. Then it will be the Sea of Monsters, and The Titan's curse... with a twist on both... *EVIL GRIN***

**Oh, and next chapter will show a little bit more as to what Axel can do as an elemental...**


End file.
